Protest asks Labour Party Conference 2015 to end contracts with G4S

inminds1 October 2015

Protest organised by Inminds outside the Labour Party Conference in Brighton at lunch time on 27th September 2015 - the opening day of the conference - demanded the Labour Party end its contracts with the British security company G4S which is complicit in Israel's torture of Palestinian child prisoners. Activists demanded in particular that Labour stop using G4S to provide the security for the Labour conference every year and for Labour councils to stop investing tens of millions of pounds in G4S via their pension funds.

Since 2007 G4S has been contracted by the Israeli prison service to secure many of its prisons and interrogation centres where Palestinian political prisoners including women and children and caged and tortured. 61% of all Palestinian political prisoners are caged in G4S secured prisons, this includes 98% of all administrative detainees (those held indefinitely without charge or trial). All women prisoners and all the children are also caged and tortured in G4S secured Israeli prisons.

Photos and video of the protest including full speeches are included below.

In June 2015, Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha visiting abducted Palestinian children from an orphanage in Tulkarem, being caged in Israel's notorious G4S secured dungeon at Megiddo, reported that the children had been beaten and tortured in a "heinous" way by Israeli soldiers during interrogation. The children had been "terrified, threatened and blackmailed" in contravention of international law and conventions advocating children's rights.

Schoolboy Mahir Hussein, told Masalha that Israeli soldiers had fired gunshots into the air to threaten him and two other teenagers when they were detained. Israeli soldiers threatened to kill him before two soldiers beat him "violently."He was left bleeding for six hours with hands and feet cuffed. The boy was afterwards moved to a hospital in a military base in Petah Tiqva where doctors required "24 stitches" to seal the wound on his head. The next day he was taken to al-Jalame interrogation center for a period of 20 days during which he was beaten and mostly confined to a wooden chair with his hands and feet cuffed. G4S provides the entire security system for Al Jalame, its infamous for its torture of children and its tiny 'hole in the ground' children's cells three floors below the surface.

The Labour Party has been lobbied for several years over its contracts with G4S and last September there were protests outside its conference in Manchester. Its own senior MPs including past and current leaders and shadow cabinet members, and leading trade unionists have all criticised the contracts, and yet nothing has been done and and again this year the Labour Party is giving money to G4S to secure the party conference.

With recent changes in the leadership and membership of the party we are confident that given encouragement (and a push) the party could finally end its shameful partnership with G4S.

Every delegate going through G4S checkpoint to enter the Labour Conference #Lab15 reminded G4S complicity in Israel's torture to death of Palestinian father Arafat Jaradat

We had half a dozen Palestinian flags flying including a couple of giant Palestinian flags hoisted up a 9m flag pole which was visible all the way along the beach. We had Palestinian music playing through the PA system, and set up a table for our leaflets on G4S and other aspects of the Palestinian struggle for justice and freedom, and a petition from our friends in BHPSC asking the Labour Party to end contracts with G4S.

Messages were read out from the parents of two children who were tortured at Israel's G4S secured Al-Jalame interrogation centre and who are currently caged at Israel's G4S secured Megiddo prison, and also a message from the father of a 15 years old schoolboy who was abducted and caged at Israel's G4S secured Ofer prison on the West Bank. The messages received very warm applauses and people can up to us afterwards to give their personal condolence of what had happened to the children and their families. Some insisted on giving money even though we explained that we weren't set up to collect donations during protests - that money we passed on to MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians).

A 2m banner was placed at the G4S guarded entrance of the conference so that every delegate going through the G4S checkpoint to enter the Labour Conference was reminded of G4S's complicity in Israel's torture to death of Palestinian father Arafat Jaradat.

Delegates signing petition asking Labour to end contracts with G4S

The primary purpose of the protest was to educate Labour delegates of the suffering of ordinary Palestinians, including children as young as 12 years old, being abducted, tortured and caged by Israeli occupation forces and the complicity of a British company - G4S in these crimes.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice' - we wanted to show the delegates that it was within their grasp to help bend that arc towards justice by asking their party to end its contracts with G4S. The response from delegates was one of overwhelming support. Unionists, councillors, MEPs, MPs all stopped by to show their support and we are confident that changes will happen.

G4S complicity in Administrative Detention

We are here today outside the Brighton Centre where the Labour Party Conference is being held to demand the Labour party stop its collusion with G4S, a company complicit in Israel's torture and caging of Palestinian prisoners including women and children.

Every year, including this year, the Labour party contracts G4S to provide security for its annual conference. Why is this?

Many Labour MPs, including shadow cabinet members, and leading Trade Unionists have all called for G4S to be brought to task over its track record of human rights abuses. And yet again this year we see G4S handed the contract to secure this conference! This has got to stop now!

The British security firm G4S is the worlds largest private security contractor. It has been contracted by the Israeli prison service to secure many of its prisons and interrogation centres where Palestinian political prisoners including women and children and caged and tortured. Figures for August 2015 show that 61% of all Palestinian political prisoners are caged in G4S secured prisons.

This includes 98% of all administrative detainees. Administrative detention is a vile form of internment where Palestinians are caged indefinitely without charge or trial on never ending administrative detention orders month after month, year after year. Israel's use of administrative detention - largely as a punitive measure - is illegal under international law. Prisoners are left on rolling detention orders which can be anything from 1-6 months, renewable indefinitely. So for example administrative detainee Mazen Natsheh has been locked up cumulatively for nearly 10 years without charge or trial. Detention orders are based on so called "secret information" which never needs to be produced, either to the detainee nor their lawyer. Administrative detention is often used to arbitrarily jail Palestinians where there is no evidence for a trial. It is also used for punishment as in the case of Palestinian MPs who are often caged to punish them for their political stance.

Israel has on average issued over 2000 detention orders every year (between 2007 and 2011). Today there are around 350 administrative detainees.

Former hunger striker Khader Adnan was caged in total for over 6 years under 10 administrative detention orders without charge or trial. It was by going on hunger strike for 56 days, approaching death, that Israel eventually released him. And similarly today there are 16 Palestinian administrative detainees on hunger strike protesting administrative detention, fighting for their lives. One of them is a Palestinian journalist Nidal Abu Aker who has been imprisoned without charge or trial for over a year in Israel's G4S secured Ketziot prison. G4S provides the entire security system for Ketziot. Nidal has been on hunger strike for 39 days today. For the last two days he has refused to drink water in protest at being transferred to solitary confinment as punishment for hunger striking. He writes "From inside my dark, dreary, small cell, that is very similar to a grave, where my bed touches the walls from both sides, I stress that this narrow cell will not narrow my will. My will is spacious and my spirits are high, drawn from the support of my family and our people, as well as the justice of our cause."

Most administrative detainees, like Nidal Abu Aker, have been transferred from the West Bank into prisons in Israel. This is in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and prevents their families from visiting them.

Why is the labour party in partnership with a company that facilitates internment of Palestinians by Israel?

Why is the labour party in partnership with a company that breaks the Geneva convention?

Shame on the labour party!

Listen to your conscience and dump G4S now!

G4S complicity - Women Prisoners - Lena Jarboni

All of the Palestinian women prisoners are also caged in G4S secured prisons. The longest serving Palestinian woman prisoner is Lena Jarboni. She has been caged for 13 and a half years in a G4S secured dungeon.

Lena was born in 1974 to a Palestinian family near Acre in 1948 Palestine. Due to financial difficulty she could not complete her studies and worked in sewing workshops to help her family. In 2002 she was picked up by Israeli security on suspicion of "collaborating with the enemy" - she unlike her Palestinian friends has Israeli citizenship.

They tortured her for 30 days at Israels notorious G4S secured Al-Jalame torture den. Interrogation sessions lasted up to 20 hours at a time. Deprived of sleep, she was made to stand stationary in stress positions for that time - her joints have never recovered. Between interrogation sessions she was caged in a tiny 1m x 2m hole in the ground cell.

They brought her younger brother in and brutally tortured him, beating him mercilessly in front of her to pressure her to confess. When she didn't break they released him and abducted her younger sister and tortured her, and then they dragged her elderly mother to the interrogation room and threatened to torture her.

Her frail mother suffers from heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. To save her family Lena confessed to the fabricated charges and she was sentenced to 17 years in HaSharon women's prison. G4S provides the specially designed central command room at HaSahron as well as the security systems in the prison.

At HaSharon prison Palestinian women prisoners have to endure beatings, insults, threats, sexually explicit harassment and sexual violence, and humiliation at the hands of Israeli guards. They are often forced to undergo degrading strip searches during the middle of the night - forced to squat naked and subjected to intrusive internal body searches, for no reason other than as a punitive measure. Women have been beaten and left tied to their bed for a day and a half and not allowed to go to the toilet as punishment for spilling water.

The cells at HaSharon prison are overcrowded, dirty and infected with rodents and cockroaches. There is a total absence of basic hygiene, women have even been denied sanitary pads when menstruating. The heat is unbearable, The windows are closed and covered so that hardly any air or daylight can enter. The food is insufficient, and of inferior quality & dirty, often containing insects & worms, at times there are not enough portions for all the women.

At HaSharon Lena became the spokeswoman for the other prisoners and converted the squalid rat infested cellars in to an area for prayer and education. She taught sewing classes and Quran.

Israel has adopted a systematic policy of medical negligence regarding Palestinian prisoners, a study conducted in 2008 revealed that 38% of Palestinian female prisoners suffer from treatable diseases that go untreated. Due to medical negligence Lena can no longer walk and suffers from extreme pain in her stomach and constant migraines. The prison refused to transfer her to hospital for an essential cholecystectomy operation in time. It was only when all the women prisoners threatened to go on hunger strike that they finally allowed her the operation. She has never recovered and her condition is deteriorating.

Having endured over 13 years in HaSharon prison she is the longest serving Palestinian woman prisoner. She has nearly 4 more years left of her sentence, in her condition it is very unlikely she can survive that.

Why is the labour party in partnership with a company that cages women like Lena and is complicit in their torture?

Shame on the labour party!

Listen to your conscience and dump G4S now!

New version of Women Prisoners caged in G4S secured Israeli dungeons - Free Lena Jarboni leaflet launched at this protest

G4S comlplicity - Child Prisoners - Hares Boys

All Palestinian child prisoners are also caged in G4S secured Israeli prisons. We want to highlight the case of five palestinian boys we have been campaigning for that were abducted, tortured and caged by Israel in a G4S secured dungeon for a crime that didn't even happen.

On 14th March 2013 an illegal Israeli settler car speeding along a road on the West Bank, built on stolen Palestinian land, crashed in to the back of an Israeli truck which had stopped to change a flat tyre. This simple car accident, in which four people were hurt, was later at the behest of angry settlers presented as an attack by Palestinian stone throwing youth. The truck drivers earlier testimony that he stopped due to a flat tire was replaced with the new reason being that he had seen stones by the road, and an accident that happened after dark that nobody saw suddenly became a terror attack with 61 witnesses including the police!

Over the next few days over 50 masked Israeli soldiers with attack dogs stormed the local village of Hares in the early hours of the morning and in waves of violent arrests kidnapped the children of the village. In total 19 children were taken to the infamous G4S secured children's dungeon at Al Jalame and locked up in solitary confinement for up to 2 weeks in filthy windowless 1m by 2m hole in the ground cells with no mattress.

In the meantime the Israeli prime minister Benyamin Natanyahu announced to the settlers that he had “caught the terrorists”.

When the children, who were mostly 16 years old, wouldn't confess, they were violently tortured and sexual threats were made against the female members of their families in order to force confessions from the boys.

With the confessions and the new “eye-witness” statements, five of the Hares boys were charged with 25 counts of attempted murder each, even though there were only four people in the car. Apparently the military court had decided that 25 stones were thrown, each with an "intent to kill" and they couldn't distinguish which boys had thrown which stone so each boys would be charged with throwing all 25 stones - 25 counts of attempted murder!

The five boys have been illegally transferred to Israel, in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to Megiddo prison where G4S provides the entire central command room.

In violation of international law Israel has turned prisons in to money making enterprises with the boys essentially forced to pay for their own imprisonment. Israel deliberately fails to provide Palestinian prisoners the basic essentials like edible food, cloths (underwear, shoes, etc.) and hygiene products (soap, toothbrush etc.). The boys are forced to buy these at the extortionately priced prison shop costing the families over € 125/month to provide for one child's basic needs in prison.

With no evidence of a crime the military court keeps on postponing the hearing dates from one month to one year to two years, meanwhile the boys remain caged indefinitely and their families facing financial ruin in the process. A court hearing entails the families having to spend most of their day queuing and enduring the humiliation at the checkpoints. Once past the checkpoints the families have to wait hours at the court in anticipation of catching a glimpse of their son. Often they are disappointed as hearing are cancelled without notice.

The United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF report on Children in Israeli Military Detention concludes that Israel is the only country in the world where children are systematically tried in military courts that by definition fall short of providing the necessary guarantees to ensure respect for their rights. The conviction rate in Israeli military courts is an unfathomable 99.74%.

If the five boys are convicted they will be locked up for over 25 years - five young lives ruined with no evidence of a crime let alone their guilt.

We have messages from two of the parents of the Hares boys to G4S.

The first message is from Mehdi Suleiman, the father of Mohammed Suleiman who has joint Palestinian - Jordanian citizenship. Mehdi Suleiman had been allowed to see his son even once for over 2 years.

"In the name of Allah

To all the brothers and sisters who stand in solidarity with our prisoners in Israeli jails , especially our children..

I am the father of the Jordanian child prisoner Muhammed Mehdi Suleiman..

I have to thank you for your efforts in support of our children, and let everyone all over the world hear their voices, and expose the zoionist's violations of the rights of our children, which are guaranteed by international law..

They stole from my son, Mohammed - 16 years old - his childhood and innocence, and they put him in their prisons, where they use all of the methods of humiliation and insult..

These prisons, which contains the most sophisticated systems, violate the dignity of our heroic prisoners, they interrogate them and torture them..

Their security systems and equipments are provided by 'G4S' organisation.. So G4S is a partner in all inhuman practices and violations of international laws. We ask all free people to disrupt this organisation and stop it from supplying the occupation with what it needs to torture our children.

Lastly I say to my son: "don't be afraid .. we're with you and all free people are with you"

Freedom for our heroic prisoners.. Freedom for our child prisoners"

Mehdi Suleiman, father of Mohammed Mehdi Suleiman.

Um Fadi, the mother of Ali Shamlawi, outside Parliament just before she addressed MPs inside

The second message is from Um Fadi, the mother of Ali Shamlawi.

"I am the mother of Ali Shamlawi who was abducted by the Israeli army about 27 months ago. He did not exceed 16 years of age when they took him, falsely accusing him of throwing stones. He was taken to Al Jalame interrogation centre, there he was subjected to the ugliest forms of torture and humiliation during the long hours of interrogation without a lawyer. He was deprived of food and drink and they did not let him to use the bathroom. For 21 days they tortured and threatened him, and caged him in a narrow and dirty cell in Al Jalame.

Then they transferred him to Megiddo prison and indicted him on 25 charges including 20 attempted murders! They produced 60 witnessed against my son, yet not one of them saw anyone throwing any stones!

My son has been deprived of his childhood and his studies and his family. They took him from my lap and deprived me of seeing him growing up. He is at the age that he needs me to look after him.

Israel commits the most heinous crimes against our children in prisons, assisted by the company G4S. I call upon G4S, in the name of humanity to stop helping Israel committing crimes against our children. They must know that our children are human beings and deserve to live in dignity and freedom, like all the other children in the world.

I believe in the innocence of my son, as I believe that the sun will shine no matter how long the night, and that injustice does not last.

Freedom to Palestine, freedom to our children, freedom for all the prisoners from Israeli jails.

Thank you to the peace activists around the world and to each of the calls for justice and peace."

Um Fadi, mother of Ali Shamlawi

Unfortunately the case of the Hares Boys is not an isolated incident. Last year Israel abducted 1266 Palestinian children - that's one child taken from their parents every 7 hours!

One of the children we have campaigned for is 15 years old Palestinian school boy Khaled Sheikh.

Khaled is from the village of Beit 'Anan in West Jerusalem. On Christmas day 2014 Khaled was abducted by Israeli soldiers from near his home near Israel's illegal apartheid wall. They savagely attacked him with their rifle butts, tearing his forehead open. They shackled his hands using tight plastic ties cutting into his wrists, and threw him to the ground. Surrounding him, they kicked him in turns. He was not provided with any medical care but instead taken to interrogation for one hour, Khaled nearly passed out.

He was interrogated and caged in Israel's notorious G4S secured Ofer prison for nearly 4 months. G4S secures Ofer prison by providing its perimeter defence systems and its central command room from where the entire prison is controlled.

At Ofer prison Khaled was denied any family visits for the whole duration of his imprisonment. The occupation also denied Khaled essential medical treatment. Khaled suffers from several health issues including anaemia. At the military hearing when Khaled's father pleaded with the judge to let Khaled have his medication the judge dismissed him saying that the 15 year old schoolboy was a security threat to the state of Israel.

On 25th February 2015, the military court convicted Khaled on the usual trumped up charge of "throwing stones", and sentenced the 15 years old schoolboy to four months imprisonment, a $500 USD fine and five years probation.

Khaled's family fearful for his health urged activists around the world to intervene to secure the release of their son. Khaled's father had been threatened and detained for publicising his son's plight and for asking international help to free his son.

We have held several protests demanding Khaled's release, and Khaled's father Hussam contacted us. He sent a short message to be read out at our London protest outside the headquarters of the British security contractor G4S which secures the Israeli prison where his son Khaled was caged for nearly 4 months.

The message reads:

“I am Hussam Sheikh, the Israeli occupation has abducted my youngest son Khaled who is only 15 years old. My son loves playing football and backgammon, he is a keen photographer and his dream is to one day become a journalist. He is the youngest of our seven children. The Israeli occupation is killing our children's dreams and trampling on their humanity. The company G4S is helping facilitate this occupation. I ask G4S to stop its part in Israel's crimes. G4S is putting money above everything, money above our children's welfare. G4S is making money at the expense of our Palestinian children's suffering, its profiting from my son's suffering. I want to tell them that money is not everything, its against humanity to give it such an important status. Human rights are far more important than money or profit. Everyone under the sun has a God given right to live in freedom and in dignity. Our children should be playing, should be happy and should be at school, not caged in an occupation prison that G4S helps secure.”

Khaled has since been released, but there are still hundreds more children languishing in Israel dungeons secured by G4S.

40% of the 600 children that were taken from Jerusalem alone, were sexually abused by Israeli soldiers during arrest or interrogation. During interrogation 75% of Palestinian children detained by Israel are physically tortured.

G4S provides the security systems which keep these torture dens operational. Prisoners who have survived these hell holes recall seeing G4S logos on the cameras that witnessed their abuse.

Why is the labour party in partnership with a company that facilitates the torture of children?

Shame on the labour party!

Listen to your conscience and dump G4S now!

G4S secured Childrens Dungeon - Al Jalame

We want to describe some of the facilities G4S secures for Israel.

One of these is the notorious Al Jalame interrogation centre in northern Israel where Palestinian children as young as 12 years old are caged three floors below the surface in tiny children's cells - filthy dark holes in the ground where a child is locked up without charge or trial in solitary confinement for up to 65 days in order to break them. Their only escape is the interrogation room where the children, shackled by hands and feet, are abused and tortured by the Israeli secret police for over 6 hours at a time, until they confess to trumped up charges, usually of throwing a stone which carries a penalty of up to 20 years!

Details of Al Jalame prison emerged from the testimonies of the children as reported by the Guardian newspaper in January 2012 and documented by Defence for children International and the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem:

The cell is 2m long by 1 m wide, it's as big as a mattress without the toilet - you put down the mattress and in front is a hole in the ground toilet - the stench from which has no escape.. there is no window, the air chokes you.

The light is kept on 24 hours a day to inhibit sleep. The walls have sharp protrusions to prevent you from leaning against them for support.

The delivery of food is through a locked flap in the door. It's the only way to mark time - dividing day from night by the arrival of food. The breakfast tray is dropped through the flap at 4am - if you dont catch the tray the food will spill on the floor and you will be punished.

The room is barely wider than the filthy 5cm thin mattress that covers the floor, many cells have no mattress.

For interrogation you are dragged upstairs. On the ground is an iron ring, the interrogator puts your cuffs through it with your hands locked on either side. he cuffs your ankles to the chair legs.. you cannot move.. like a statue. The sessions can last more than 6 hours. At some facilities children have been sexually assaulted by interrogators and threatened with sodomy with an object if they didnt confess. Sisters and mothers have been threatened with rape in order to coerce confessions from boys.

Why is the labour party in partnership with a company that facilitates such treatment of children?

Shame on the labour party!

Listen to your conscience and dump G4S now!

Al Jalame - G4S secured Israeli childrens dungeon

G4S complicity in Torture to Death of Arafat Jaradat

Then there is the infamous "Russian compound" of Jerusalem prison where Israeli guards torture Palestinian women. One woman, Inam Qlambo who was arrested during a protest described how the soldiers struck blows to her face and tore her headscarf off, ripping her hair out.. they threw her to the ground and kicked her in the womb. Under interrogation at the Russian Compound they ordered her to strip naked. When she resisted they attached her body to an electric shock device and tortured her. She says "I felt my body burning under their machine.. the intense pain.. so severe.."

The protest Inam Qlambo was arrested at was for a Palestinian prisoner who was tortured to death - Arafat Jaradat.

Arafat Jaradat, a 30 year old Palestinian father of 2 young children aged 4 and 2 years old, married with a pregnant wife, died on Saturday 23rd Feb 2013 after being savagely tortured for 5 days by Israel’s secret police Shin Bet in Megiddo Prison. He had been arrested on suspicion of just throwing a stone.. 5 days later he was dead.

At his last military hearing on 22nd Feb Arafat pleaded with the judge that he didn't want to go back to his cell, because he was being brutally tortured. He had severe pain in his back and all over his body due to the beatings and being hung for many hours during interrogation. The judge was dismissive and the torture continued. Arafat died the next day.

Shin Bet claimed he had died of a heart attack but the autopsy carried out at the National Israeli Forensic Medicine Center showed no sign of heart failure or any other illness, but revealed broken bones and found his whole body was covered in "strong and excessive bruising".. "under the skin, inside the muscle and along the spine at the bottom of the neck, deep inside the tissue". The autopsy determined the cause of death as "nervous shock as a result of extreme pain from the intensity of the injuries, which resulted from multiple direct and extensive acts of torture".

Shockingly it was revealed that an Israeli doctor was involved in Arafat’s torture who had guided the interrogators, giving them the green light for further torture.

Arafat was murdered over 2 years ago, yet no one has been charged with his murder. He was murdered in Megiddo prison where G4S provides the entire central command room from where the entire prison is controlled.

Why is the labour party in partnership with a company that is complicit in the murder of Palestinians through torture?

Shame on the labour party!

Arafat Jaradat banner at entrance of conference

Naming & Shaming Labour Councils with investments in G4S

Shame List - Labour Councils with investments in G4S

We are here to demand change!

We have a new leadership in the party and we have tens of thousands of new members. We now need new direction.. lets start today with cancelling G4S's contract with the labour party!

And then tomorrow lets look at the millions of pounds Labour councils across the country are giving to G4S through investments in council pension funds.

A little research has revealed the following list of guilty labour councils..and its not an exhaustive list as many councils do not reveal a company by company breakdown of their investments.

Why are Labour councils investing in torture?
Shame on the labour party.
Stand on the right side of history and lets work towards justice!
Divest from G4S!
Divest from Israeli apartheid!
Free Palestine!

"The Palestinian people are living in a prison with the key to everything in their lives controlled by the Israeli government and Israeli military. This is wrong! This is immoral! This is unjust! This is unethical! And in our world today, as the human family we will not stand silent and allow the Israeli government supported by the American government, and the UK government to continue to abuse the rights of the Palestinian people. Occupation must end!"